Dive Brief:

• The Real Brokerage has reached a “settlement in principle” in a pregnancy discrimination lawsuit filed against the online real estate brokerage company by its former CFO Michelle Ressler, according to a letter filed by her attorney with the court last week. 
• Judge Analisa Torres of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, noting the court had been advised of the settlement, dismissed the case, leaving open “the right to reopen the action within 30 days of the date of this order if the settlement is not consummated,” according to a Nov. 6 signed order which also directed the court to close the case.
• Under the settlement that must still be finalized, the Miami-based residential brokerage company said it will “make no payment to Ressler” and that the ex-CFO will reimburse the company for what it says were personal charges made on the company’s corporate credit card.

Dive Insight:

The news of the settlement comes less than a month after the judge gave attorneys more time to mediate the lawsuit that was filed in June alleging the company discriminated against Ressler based on her gender and pregnancy, firing her about three months after returning from maternity leave for manufactured reasons to “clear the way for her less qualified and unencumbered male successor.”

Ressler had been seeking relief that included back and “front pay for future lost wages and benefits” and a declaration that the company’s acts and practices violate the Family and Medical Leave Act. The Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 provides for certain U.S. employees to take up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave for family or medical reasons, including for the birth, adoption or placement of a child, according to the U.S. Department of Labor.

A spokesperson for Allison Van Kampen, an attorney with the law firm of Outten & Golden who represents Ressler, did not respond to an emailed question from CFO Dive asking why her client appears to have accepted settlement terms that do not include any payment from Real Brokerage. 

“The parties have reached a settlement in principle, and Ms. Ressler looks forward to this matter being resolved,” the company said in a statement from Van Kampen emailed by the spokesperson. 

While Real Brokerage said an internal audit had revealed Ressler had improperly charged eight personal expenses totaling $17,440 to a company bank card, the suit asserts that $15,946 of those charges, which were related to airfare, were an “oversight” that she offered to repay, and that $1,493 in entertainment expenses were business-related, CFO Dive previously reported. 

Attorneys for Real Brokerage did not immediately respond to requests for comment.